Up-tempo, penetration, passing out along the perimeter and shoot—that’s the basic Warrior way and coach Don Nelson’s blueprint for creating three-point opportunities. Although the last seed Warrior lost to the fourth seed Jazz in the first game of their Western Semifinal match-up, it was more of one team outlasting the other than Golden State Breaking down.

State put in points with everyone of the starting five hitting for double digits. But rebounding went to the Jazz 54 to 36 and offensive 20 to 14. If anything helped the Jazz it was foul shot opportunities. Utah had seven more shots than Golden State did from the foul line and they converted six more points. The Warriors tried to make it up from downtown but could not quite catch up.

Still, the Warriors, who have been picked by many prognosticators to take this series in seven games, simply need to garner a victory in tonight’s game to be in the series driver’s seat.

Shutting down Mehmet Okur would be helpful. The big man from Turkey hit for 21 points while grabbing 11 rebounds, topping his season averages for each by 4. The Warriors also have to figure out how to neutralize the defensive prowess of Andrei Kirilenko (8.3 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 2.1 BPG), who had seven blocks and seven rebounds! He also put up 13 points. A massive effort.

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